The Dumps

I'm moody right now.

I've got a headache that's lasted for days.

My hips are hurting me so bad some days that I can barely move.

I'm able to have fun with the family for short periods of time, but it almost seems like I'm faking it.

I love my family, but it seems like the family doses might be better if they were a little smaller.

I know I'll get over it. It might just take a few days. I'm glad I have the support of my loving husband.

Furniture re-arrangement.

There's no reason why you'd find this interesting, but I do, so that's why I'm posting it. The last 2 1/2 years of owning this house have been all about getting it "just right" for us with as little moolah spent as possible.

When Armondo and I moved in together, we brought all of our old furniture into the mix and have been upgrading bit by bit, and trying to make the place nice by re-arranging stuff and making things tidier. Since this is like a photo-journal for me, I'm including, once again, some before and after shots of our improvements.

This is the before shot of our computer area:

Which I turned into a little play area for the kid(s):Cherry totally loves it!


And I moved the computer to another corner, and got a nice new, less cluttery desk:

I love it. Cherry loves it. The fish are getting much more attention. It's all good.

Cherry goes to the farm.

We started the fun off by waking her up early from her nap.

Then we strapped her into the car and went for a country drive.

And we ended up here:
Where, apparently, they've had problems with people hunting rabbits or something.


Then, the little one was in her glory, mucking in her boots and checking out the animals.
"Hey kiddo, can you show me a duck?"


"Is it a sheep? or a goat? I just don't know!!"


"Here, bunny, bunny, bunny!"
"Whew, all this animal petting has got me tired, time to take a rest."

"Hey ma, this 500lb pumpkin is pretty cool and all, but does it DO anything?"

Happy Birthday Belinda!

It's a little late in the day, but better late than never!

It's BELINDA'S birthday!

Happy Birthday Belinda!!!

The Beginning of "Forever". (Series part V)

Please click the links to "A Love Series" on the sidebar to see the previous stories in the series.

The next few months were pretty uneventful, except for my change in employment. I had a fight with my boss at the Asian restaurant, and that, combined with a stark lack of hours, I decided to find myself a different job. (Jeez, two fights with bosses, two jobs in a row! I must be hard to work with!)

So, I wound up working full time at the hardware store, and at some point, I dropped out of school. I can't honestly remember when I dropped out, but it was after I had done two and a half years. I just didn't have the motivation to stick with it, and I had never really had a goal to begin with, so I couldn't justify going into even MORE debt. Armondo agreed with me, and we made plans to eventually open a restaurant together.

During all this time, we discussed the probability of an upcoming engagement, and I made it very clear that I wanted my promise ring to become my engagement ring, and that I would MUCH prefer a down payment on a house to an expensive ring. Armondo seemed to agree and was glad that I was so "sensible". And then the waiting game began. I knew that I wanted to be with this man forever, I just didn't want to wait forever for him to ASK me to be with him forever!

Armondo and I were pretty avid concert goers. We still go to the odd concert and bar show, but of course, since we've had Cherry, we haven't been able to go as often as we would like. In the summer of 2003 though, we went to several, including Warped Tour. Warped Tour is an outdoor show that happens every summer and features several punk, ska/punk, and pop/punk bands on several different stages. It's an all day event, and also features skateboarding and bmx demos and each band has a tent set up to sell their merch and such. Armondo and I had both gone to several Warped Tours over the years, but this was the first one we went to together. For some reason, I always overheat at these shows, and always get lethargic and sometimes sickly, so I usually spend half the day just lounging, and/or sleeping in the middle of a three thousand plus sized crowd.

At this particular show, while I was sleeping on the lawn at Thunderbird Stadium, Armondo took the opportunity to take off and head into the massive mosh pit to get some circle pit action.

After a couple of hours, we met back up and spent some time sitting together in the bleachers to enjoy the music, but also get away from the crowds. At some point, I started talking marriage with Armondo. He told me he wasn't really ready and it just didn't seem like the "right time". To that, I replied, "Well, do you want to be with me for the rest of your life?" To which he responded "Yes."

"So, if you want to be with me, and you don't have to buy me a ring, then, what are you waiting for?"

"You're right." He said. "There's no reason to wait."

"So, when are you going to ask me to marry you?"

"Hmm.. When Pennywise is playing."

"Whatever!"


And he did.


Pennywise was the last band to play that day, and during their set, he leaned over my shoulder from the bleacher step above me and asked me the question:




"So, uh, do you wanna marry me? Sometime?"





Yeah, that's how he asked me. No bending on one knee. No staring into my eyes. He was on the bleacher step BEHIND me and he leaned over to ask me.

Stupid shmuck that I am, I said "Yes, I want to marry you!" and turned around for a kiss.

Soon after though, I started to rib him for his lame proposal. On the way to the car, I kept asking him "Did you REALLY just ask me to marry you?!?"

And when I asked him why it was such a lame proposal, when he's a romantic person most of the time, his answer was:

"I hurt my knee in the mosh pit."

This is What Happens When a Baby Girl has her Dad Wrapped Around Her Little Finger!

She started crying when he went outside to mow/mulch, so he packed her up in the back pack and they're mowing the lawn together!

Who's Da Man?!?

Things Armondo has said to me in the past 16 or so hours since he's been home:

"I really like that shirt! You look really good in it!"

"Did you do something to your hair? It looks really nice. Did you dye it or something?"

(After I asked) "Yeah, you look bigger! Your belly is nice and big and round, and I really like it!"

"Wow, the house looks great!"

"I'm really happy right now."

(To Annie) "Wow, I forgot what a pretty dog you were!"

"You want me to move furniture around? Ok!"

And, right now, he's out with Cherry at the pool, leaving me alone, by myself, for two whole hours!!! During which time, I've been able to bathe/shower without worrying about a screaming toddler, I sorted and put out the recycling without worrying about either barking dogs waking the kid up as I go outside without them, or the kid screaming as I go outside without HER! I've been able to write a grocery list without fighting the kid for the pen, and without having to snatch the paper back out of her hands several times. I'm able to write this blog entry without fighting with her over the mouse which is one of those optical ones, and she really seems to like to pick it up and attempt to stare straight into that bad, evil red light. (I fight with her and stop her from doing it, but it's hard!) I was able to sit on the toilet for several minutes without being disturbed. (New trick I learned for the dogs if they're bugging me while I'm in the bathroom- I say "Do you wanna have a BATH!?!?" and they run!) And now, I'm going to go lay down for a nap! Oh, life is bliss!

The Hubby is Coming home!

Soon. Maybe tomorrow, but probably the next day.

So, um.. yeah, I'm busy getting the house that much tidier, and then, when he makes his arrival, I'll be that much more busy, 'cause well, YOU KNOW WHY!

So, go enjoy my archives! 'Cause I might not be writing much here for the next couple of days.

And, once things are settled, I'll continue with the series!

Next post in the series: The lead up to the engagement. (It's not as exciting as it sounds!)

Why I will NEVER get a male dog. (A little TMI, just be warned)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Cherry and I had Thanksgiving dinner at my in-laws last night sans hubby.

It was interesting to say the least.

My Mother In Law was actually pretty cool last night. And her husband was nice and fun as usual. I had no worries about the brother and sister in-law, because those particular two are always fabulous.

There was, however a problem with ONE in-law.

And this inlaw had four furry legs.

Sunny, the un-altered 11 month old golden retriever male dog was a real pain in the rear all night.

And he LOVED Jacy.

He wouldn't stop chasing her around, biting at her neck, and trying to do things only doggies do. And he wouldn't put his lipstick away.

I tried my hardest to protect my little girl dog, but it was hard to deal with a toddler, Annie, Jacy, and a crazy horny love dog at the same time.

My MIL and StepFIL were nice enough to give us their room for the night, and Annie, Jacy, Cherry and I tried to settle down for a good sleep after being filled with tryptophan. Cherry, of course went to bed before me, and it was hard to get her to sleep between the yelps from Jacy as she ran away from Sunny, and the barks from Sunny as he begged to be let back inside so he could have his way with my poodle.

After the rest of us all settled down in bed, at an early 9pm, the real fun began. I took the dogs straight into the room with me, without letting them out for a pee, hoping that I could just wait until Sunny was settled upstairs with the rest of the in-laws in order to spare Jacy the stress of meeting her Pepe Le PU again. So, 10 or so minutes after he was upstairs, I let the dogs out for a pee, and my MIL came to see what was going on, and Sunny came downstairs and barked and woke Cherry up again. She went back down without too much of a fuss, but it was just the beginning of a really rough night!

Later, at some point I guess my MIL went out for a smoke, and Sunny came bolting down the stairs and ran into our room and JUMPED on me, trying to get at Jacy. This of course, caused whispered yells from me, yelping from Jacy, growling from Annie, and inevitably, crying from Cherry. After my MIL and I got Sunny out of the room and back up the stairs, I was able to settle Cherry down again, and go to the bathroom, wake Cherry up again as I came back into the room, and finally settle down for a few hours of sleep. Until 5 am.

At five in the morning, for some reason, my StepFIL's kid decided to walk through the house. The kid does NOT live there, and he's going through the house for some reason at 5 am. I heard a noise, possibly the front door opening, and Jacy, the good guard dog that she is, started growling, then Annie barked, Cherry woke up, and the fetus kicked me in the bladder. I had no choice but to get up, and there was no way Cherry was going to go back to sleep easily this time!

So, I got up, saw the kid doing something with some blankets out the back door, (thanked God that I had kept my purse in the room with me, and not out in the open), and let the dogs out to pee and sniff him while I got Cherry a bottle. Then, after I got the bottle, changed Cherry's diaper, got the dogs back inside, and put Cherry back in her pen, it was time for me to pee. It wasn't until then that StepFIL noticed that something was going on, and he came downstairs WITH SUNNY, and the whole cycle started again!

Cherry didn't really sleep much after that point. She whimpered every few minutes and let out little cries here and there, and we spent the next few hours in a half-sleep state, being woken up by the odd bark by Sunny, growl by Jacy, and footsteps of the in-laws.

And then the phone ringing and the arrival of Sunny into our room at 9am really got us started for our day.

Right away, Annie and Sunny were put outside to play and to keep Sunny away from Jacy, and Jacy was too stressed to leave my side as I went and did stuff around the house. When I went for a shower, Jacy sat outside the bathroom until she couldn't help it anymore and pissed and pooed all over the upstairs. She was too stressed to go outside with the big dogs and couldn't hold it any longer, so she let go and I had quite the mess to clean up.

It was then, that I decided it was time to go home. We had to make it home before nap time, 'cause I was NOT going to go two days in a row without a nap! (I figured Cherry would sleep in the car on the way up, but that so didn't happen, and I didn't want to screw with nap time a second day in a row!)

So, after looking for one of Cherry's lost booties for twenty minutes, we were able to drive home. And I listened to Cherry fuss and whine and cry for at least 45 min. (Half the drive.)

Jacy and Annie were excited to be home, and I could see the relief in Cherry's eyes as I put her down for a long quiet nap. We slept for over three hours, and now, hopefully, our sleep schedule is back to normal!

Oh, and Sunny? Well, his macho days are numbered. The in-laws had been debating whether to fix him or not, and after his *ahem* performance this weekend, he's headed for the scissors. Apparently, he whined ALL night wanting to get downstairs and at Jacy, and he panted like it was 30 (86F) degree weather for close to 18 hours. Sort of brings the term "puppy love" into perspective.

Happy Thanksgiving Canada!

Wish me luck, I'm spending the evening with the in-laws MINUS my husband!

Ugh, The language barrier!

When I call a number and the automated service asks me to press "1" to speak to someone in French, or to stay on the line to speak to someone in English, and I do NOT press one, then, I expect someone who speaks ENGLISH to come on the line.

Is that crazy of me? I mean, is that unreasonable? In a country of mostly English speaking people, I get to talk to a Frenchy who can barely understand me. Oh, the insanity!

The Promise (Series part IV)

You can find series part one here, part two here, part three here.


I couldn't open the box at first. Several thoughts went through my head. The box he handed me had a fancy "B" written on the top, and I thought for a second that there was going to be some sort of expensive Belgian chocolate from Bernard Callebaut.

The second thought was that it was a joke. There'd be some sort of note inside telling me I was getting ice cream cake for dinner or something. (My favourite.)

I spent a few minutes sort of playing with the box with the tips of my fingers. He couldn't be PROPOSING, could he? I mean, we've only been together for four and a half months! I knew that I loved him, and I knew that he was the one, but I so knew I couldn't say yes so early! And besides that, we were in a greasy spoon diner, and he so wasn't on his knee!

I was scared to open it. I SOO hoped it would be a fancy chocolate.


But I opened it, and inside was this:
"Uhhhh" Damn! It was a ring! It was THE ring. It was exactly the sort of ring I wanted for an engagement ring. It had three, small diamonds, a white gold band, and was just so small and delicate, which was perfect for my little hand. Saying "no" would mean it wouldn't be my ring! But it HAD to be my ring!

"Do you know what it is?" He asked me.

"Um, not really!" I replied.

"It's a promise ring." He smiled.

WHEW! It was a PROMISE ring! That means I could keep it! I could totally accept that. I put my shiny new ring on and was very happy. Well, sort of. If THIS was the promise ring, would that mean that I'd have to get an engagement ring that WASN'T as perfect as this one?

(even if you know what a promise ring is, you should click on the links for "promise ring" both links are different.)

Melora Wins!!

Melora was the first Non-Canadian to figure out who I was supposed to be dressed as in my last post!

Congratulations Melora! You are my new hero! *HUGS*

Melora correctly identified my costume as The Paper Bag Princess. It's a character in a children's story written by Canadian Author Robert Munsch. I highly recommend ANY Robert Munsch books!

So, because Melora is sooo awesome, make sure you send her some love and go visit her blog!

Oh, and it's her birthday too! So go be nice!

The Lead Up to a Promise. (Series Part III)

You can find the series part one here. Part two here.

After hanging out a couple of times, Armondo and I totally clicked. Everything just seemed right with him, though I had no intention of getting too involved too fast.

The first while getting to know him, I learned details about his recovery from drug use, the stories of his tattoos, his family dynamics etc., and would often find myself falling into his soft brown eyes as he spoke. But it wasn't all about him. He was as good a listener as a talker.

And he cooked for me. And if any of you have been following along for awhile, you know that I SO cannot cook!

I couldn't help but compare Armondo to my ex, Jimbo in the beginning, and to other guys I had been with recently. Armondo seemed to have and do all the things that Jimbo didn't, but wasn't as needy and nerdy as RM. And he seemed totally into me.

I have to admit though, that things were a little weird at first. I was hurting from finding out all the details of Jimbo's indiscretions, and was scared to jump head first into a relationship, and Armondo was less than a year clean and sober, so the two of us entered the relationship a little messed up and cautious. Sex didn't happen at first, which probably is actually a good thing, but we would spend nights together sleeping in each others arms. We spent a lot of time together in those early days and got to know each other really well. It was just... comfortable.

I also started to get to know his room mate, who outed herself in the previous post's comments, so I will use her blogging name Ryann. She had a computer (Armondo did not) and the two of us kept in touch often by msn chat. That is, when I wasn't actually at her house.

One of the funniest things I remember when talking to her on line was when I told her to tell Armondo that I wanted him to come over.

She passed on the message, and not five minutes later, he was at my door. Ryann's comment on MSN was "where'dhego?" He hadn't told her he was leaving, nor did he call me to tell me he was on his way. Just bam. There he was. And he would often drop what he was doing to come see me. It wasn't long before Ryann was fretting that she was going to have to start looking for a new room mate. I thought she was crazy for saying that, being that Armondo and I hadn't been together for very long, but only a few months later, it turned out she would be right.

We never really had an exact date that we considered to be our anniversary dating date, but we generally called it Hallowe'en.

And Hallowe'en that year was AWESOME. There were several parties. For Hallowe'en day at school, and the bar at night, I dressed up and went out like this:

The first NON-CANADIAN to correctly identify who I'm supposed to be gets a big virtual hug and congrats!

Jimbo and I were still hanging out often due to the fact that we had all the same friends, and he was close friends with my room mates, and I had already promised I'd help him with his costume, so I painted him for a party that I didn't end up going to.
And then, after Hallowe'en, my room mates and I threw a party. Everyone HAD to dress up, and if they didn't, we would dress them up! Armondo and I had raided the cheap after Hallowe'en deals that year at Value Village and had a huge tote full of accessories to dress people up with.

I took the group photo, so I'm not in it, but Armondo is front and center as a punk rock witch thing.
And this is me at our Hallowe'en party. Right after I kicked a$$ at the bobbing for apples competition! (You all know what that means, right? hee hee) My make up is running, but basically I was a slutty, dead nurse.

Things with Armondo were really good. We were into pretty much all same things, and he was just a little more adventurous than the other guys I had dated recently.

The boyfriend I had before Jimbo almost hit me the day I got my tongue pierced, and Jimbo totally wasn't into piercings either, but, Armondo was different. When I met him, I think he had 6 piercings. I had three. It only took a couple of weeks of being together before we decided to go and get our nipples pierced. Armondo already had one done, but he got it re-done in the other direction, and got the other nipple done too. I got both of mine done too. And, out of all the piercings I've had done over the years, THOSE ONES hurt the most! (I've had nine all together, including ears.) We spent the next week or so with breast feeding nipple pads in our shirts to protect them and to soak up any blood. It was pretty hot.

A couple months later, Armondo moved into my small two bedroom suite that I was sharing with a married couple and their toddler son. He was due to move in at the END of the month, but moved in half way through, before I could even get organized, and that, combined with some off hand insult he made about my father, caused our first major fight. That night, Armondo left for work, thinking he was going to come home and be dumped. That didn't happen though. I WAS angry, but he just seemed too "worth it" to get rid of.

On New Years Eve, he quit smoking. He had cut back quite a bit before hand, and had stopped smoking around me, and would often shower right after a cigarette, so it hadn't been so bad, but it was a good thing he quit, 'cause THAT would have been what would have broken us up. (Shallow, I know, but I just couldn't stand the thought of living with a smoker for a long period of time.)

Right around that time, we got ourselves a small two bedroom apartment in the other end of town, and started our animal collection.

In that small apartment, we already had Sabre (I'd had her for about two years by then), and started to collect rats, degus, fish, crawfish, and a guinea pig. I was pretty much bringing home a different pet every month. (The fish and crawfish were his though!)

We were very happy in our little, messy apartment, and things just got better and better.

March came around, and so did my birthday. Armondo took me out to breakfast at a diner and presented me with a box that sort of looked like this:

Wanted:Manny*

Foreign accent a bonus.



*Manny=A male nanny. From the same roots as murse, a male nurse.

Quick! Someone Call the Fire Department!

This tree always seems to be a source of amusment for me. From raccoons to squirrels, and now a cat!

Ozzy was STUCK in the tree for over an hour! What a goober!

Bits and Pieces

~I'm working on my series number 3 right now, but it's taking a little while. I've been scanning old photos for it, and that takes time!

~Cherry is loving our new schedule! She loves swimming so much, and each time we go, she's more fearless than the time before! The lifeguards find her quite entertaining and one of them even said to me (after Cherry dunked herself and didn't get up right away) "You looked more scared than SHE did!"

~I've been taking her to playgroups as well, and today we totally found a winner. She's liked both of the ones we've gone to so far, but today she had a blast (we're trying another, different one tomorrow too). Today's group was held in a big hall, and half the hall was blocked off from the other by gymnastics equipment, and on one half was all sorts of ride 'em cars and trikes and other things with wheels, and the other side had tables and chairs for the parents to sit at and a bunch of smaller toys. The place was PACKED with kids, and Cherry had a blast running around, stealing stuff from other kids and playing with everything and everyone. INCLUDING other parents! I have to admit that I had a slight twinge of jealousy when she grabbed a book and planted herself on another mother's lap! She did it at the last play group too!

I've been enjoying getting out more and meeting people too. I've already made two connections with other mothers, as well as I have re-connected with an old friend who met Cherry and I at the pool the other day. She has a five month old son, and he's the cutest little thing ever. Well, besides my kid, of course!

~One of my darling friends has offered to take Cherry for a bit tomorrow so that I can have some time to myself! It's been so long since I've had time to myself during the day that I just can't think of what I want to do! I think I might do some yard work and plant some flower bulbs!

~Lost starts up again tomorrow! I'm so, overly, insanely excited about this!

Critters

~After all the trouble I've been having with spiders, I decided to go out and get some sticky, non-toxic, baited bug traps. I haven't seen a monster spider in my house since. And I haven't caught so much as a flea in those traps. There are, however many, many spiders EVERYWHERE outside. I don't know what they're called, these particular type of spiders, but they aren't scary. They have tiger-like stripes and big fat bottoms, and they sort of "pop" when you step on them. But anyway, the REASON why they aren't scary, is 'cause they are the type that stay on their webs. Right, smack dab in the middle. You won't catch one of these things crawling in your bed, or scurrying across the floor, unless, of course you have just walked through their web and knocked them down. There's one in particular that likes to build his web right outside my front door, and every day, as I step outside, I have to make sure that I don't walk face first into the sticky strings. I don't kill him though. I figure it's good that he's catching the other bugs that may or may not be trying to come in my front door. I see him as a helper, a friend even.

But this type of spider? They're EVERYWHERE outside. When I stand at my kitchen sink, doing the dishes and daydream as I stare outside, I can, without even trying hard, count over 14 spiders in their webs just RIGHT THERE. It's sort of fascinating to watch them when they catch a bug.

~Those raccoons I had in my tree left almost as quickly as they had appeared, but now my tree has welcomed some new tenants. My big maple is now full of squirrels, and they are SOOO cute. (Sorry, no pictures.) I really like squirrels, I've decided. I love how they squeak, and how it seems like their tails have something to do with the sound, 'cause they twitch with every sound they make! I used to have pet squirrels from Peru (degus) and they didn't make good pets, and I'd never get any again, but I sort of just want to catch these little suckers from outside and hug them and squeeze them and squish them into itty bitty pieces. Somebody stop me!

~Sabre is totally a master hunter. It makes me proud, but sad at the same time. I'm happy that she loves me and shows her affection by bringing me presents, but I really loathe cleaning up dead birds! The snakes have all gone away for the season, so she's moved onto bigger prey now, and coming home to a dead bird on the deck is not my favourite welcoming home present! At least the doors are closed now, so these little treats don't make their way inside during these colder months!

Clutter Busting

I'm trying to get my house more clutter free. Just doing little things here and there.

Today, I sorted the diaper change table and bought some containers to hold all the diapers and other junk stuff that gets stored there.

I also decided to clean out my drawer in the bathroom and re-organize it using some cheap baskets I found at the Superstore today.

Most of the stuff I threw away was typical bathroom build up stuff: Old creams, expired meds, etc.

The one thing that confused me though was this:


Can anyone tell me WHY I decided to keep my wisdom teeth for probably about 7 years? And why, up until today, I thought that this was a completely reasonable thing to have stored with my cosmetics and hair brush?!? Did I think that the tooth faerie was going to come and give me a fortune some day? Did I figure they would be a fun thing to pull out and show to the kids one day? Maybe, I was going to keep them for some weird Hallowe'en accessory. I have no idea.

What sort of weird things do you keep and have no idea why?

Cooking With CeCe part deux

My last attempt at making spaghetti sauce didn't go so well, but this time? We have a winner!

I used the crock pot again, and we got three good days of spaghetti dinners. This time, it actually tasted good, and for two reasons: one, the super smart Maidink figured out that my missing ingredient was SUGAR! A little over half a cup for the whole batch made the whole thing taste just wonderful! And two, I didn't burn it as much this time!(hey, I'm new at this stuff, ok?)


so... you need proof that it was better this time?

Last time, the dogs wanted nothing to do with my sauce.

This time? They devoured the leftovers!